Friday, May 18, 2012

Getting there in my kinda style

Bought myself something today. I'm still not working, but, needed a way to get around. I didn't want a payment. More important I wanted something at a comfortable level of technology. I hate paying other people to work on my cars. I found this 1966 Chevy 3/4 ton with a factory stake body at a price I could afford. It needs some sheet metal work, some adjusting to the brakes, and seals in the rear end on the drivers side. Just under 64,000 original miles. I bought it from it's second owner. The first owner was a welding shop in Rochester, NY.

12 comments:

Damn...I'd love one of those! You can even see the engine! Unfortunately on my side of the pond (UK) even if I could find one, it would cost a fortune...:-(I can't stand modern cars, with all those electronic gizmos and the need to take them to the garage with the "right computers" to fix the slightest of problems.

Joel, That's exactly why I bought it. You know, while I was looking for it, I came accross a couple Morris Traveler woody wagons. I was tempted. I figured getting parts for them here would have put them out of my budget.

Rick, I can honestly state that the gas gauge works and when it says empty, it is. We trailered it home because of the brakes and the fact that it was 20 miles away. When we loaded the trailer the gauge was a needle width above empty. When we brought it home I drove it around the block and backed it into our shared driveway. Later because it was slightly on the nieghbors side of the driveway, I went to move it over. It ran 30 seconds and died. The needle was dead on the empty. And it was!

That's a real truck, damn it! Not one of these namby-pamby luxury car wannabes they sell these days.

I like my old Chevy long-bed because it has crappy plastic upholstery on its bench seat, dog nose smudges on the windows (nose art, I heard someone call it), and you have to roll the windows down yourself.

You have to admit. I haven't complained much the past week about feeling old and broken bodied. While it's reteaching me how to drive it's bringing back alot to me. I spent most of my youth either driving or riding in similar vehichles. a time when I didn't have to worry about having a roof over my head. When a morning spent picking strawberries or apples for a farmer would net enough for lunch and some gas to get around with. The rest of the day could be spent hunting or fishing, or even just sitting on a cliff over lake ontario enjoying the day.